"People ask me how I can do this kind of work – they say that they couldn’t handle hearing our CASA kids' sad stories. What’s truly sad to me is knowing about these children and choosing not to do anything. They are a valuable part of the future and our community. They deserve the best help we can give them." ~ Marcia C., Dallas CASA volunteer since 1984

~ Marcia C., Dallas CASA volunteer since 1984

Our Children

For many children, a CASA volunteer is the one constant during a frightening, uncertain time. These children have experienced terrible things. They have been physically abused, sexually abused, abandoned or neglected.

Children in CPS care have lost everything familiar – home, family, friends, and school – through no fault of their own. They leave home with next to nothing: clothes their parents may have hurriedly packed, perhaps a favorite stuffed animal, their belongings often quickly shoved into a trash bag. Their stories are heartbreaking. Their hope for the future is grim.

While many well-intentioned people are assigned to help, there is no single person to always be there, to consistently watch over these children and to ensure that they end up in safe, permanent and loving homes…unless there is a CASA volunteer for them.

Because CASA Was There

Elena knew only abuse and abandonment– For 12 years of life, Elena knew only abuse and abandonment. Yet when Dallas CASA advocate Karen took on Elena’s challenging and complex case, something changed for both of them.

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Removed from their birth home by Child Protective Services (CPS) due to sexual violence, physical abuse, neglect and drug use in the home, Elena and her three siblings were placed in foster care and, eventually, adopted. Elena, scarred by years of abuse, refused the adoption. She acted out with her new family and experienced psychological breakdown, resulting in repeated hospitalizations. With Karen working behind the scenes, Elena was temporarily placed in a residential treatment center where she received counseling, guidance and the structure she needed in a safe environment.

In Karen, Elena has a dependable adult she can rely on for the first time in her life. An experienced advocate for infants and toddlers, Karen has now discovered her gift for empowering teenagers to help themselves. As Elena’s CASA advocate, Karen worked with the courts and CPS to make the best possible placement for Elena’s unique needs. Much to everyone’s delight, Elena has blossomed at the treatment center, making good grades, running 5K races, tending animals at the facility’s barn and earning privileges such as trips to the beach. With counseling, she has begun to warm to the idea of letting go of her painful, abusive past and being adopted by her foster family. She now calls Karen, hungry for a connection to home and happy to share good news about the progress she’s making in treatment. And Karen, like no one else Elena has ever known, always answers.

*Children’s names have been changed to protect their identity

Tyrone needed glasses – At only ten years old, Tyrone was already struggling in life. After being removed from his home due to neglect by his mother, Tyrone was living in foster care and needed someone to look out for his needs.

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Dallas CASA volunteer Doug was assigned to Tyrone’s case, and he began working on Tyrone’s behalf right away.

“When I visited him at the foster home, he was polite, well-mannered and well-behaved,” he said. “It was one glowing report after another.”

But school was a different story. The school reported to Doug that Tyrone was disruptive, not paying attention, a distraction in class and academically below grade level.

“So I sat him down and said, ‘Your teacher tells me you’re not paying attention. What’s up with that?’” Doug asked. “And this child says to me he doesn’t care about school because he can’t see anything on the board anyway. And a lightbulb went off in my head.”

Doug asked Tyrone to sit at the back of the class and administered his own impromptu eye test. Tyrone could not distinguish letters on the board until he was in the second row of the class – and even then it was a struggle.

Tyrone needed glasses.

“Within two weeks, he had glasses,” Doug said. “They were these black, rectangular glasses and he looked really nice in them and was proud to wear them. But, most of all, he could see.”

By the end of the school year, Tyrone was on grade level academically and on track behavior-wise, no longer a distraction now that he could see and participate in class work and learning.

“At times, there are big things I can do that make a difference,” experienced advocate Doug says. “But I find the little things can be the most meaningful to the kids and me. Here’s a boy who’s disruptive in school, not progressing and so he assumes he’s stupid. That label could have stuck with him for life, but he wasn’t stupid. He just needed glasses. And I helped make that happen.”

*Children’s names have been changed to protect their identity

Two siblings needed their grandmother – For a decade as their mother struggled with drug addiction, two siblings would seek refuge at their grandmother’s house for days and even weeks at a time.

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Ultimately, Child Protective Services intervened on the children’s behalf, removing them from their mother’s unsafe and neglectful home. But this time when they sought refuge with grandma, the two young sisters were denied and placed with an aunt instead. Their case was soon referred to Dallas CASA for assignment to a volunteer advocate who could work in the best interest of the children.

Volunteer advocate Sandy was reviewing paperwork on the case before meeting the family for the first time when the error hit her like a lightning bolt.

“The first day I came to the CASA office to learn about the case, I saw in the case files that the wrong grandma was restricted to supervised visits,” Sandy said.

The children had two very different grandmothers. Their paternal grandmother had a criminal record and was only allowed supervised visits with the children. Their maternal grandmother, with whom they’d sought refuge, did not have a criminal record and should have been allowed full contact with the children. But in the confusion of removal, the maternal grandmother was accidentally restricted to supervised visits only.

The family, overwhelmed by the changes in their family dynamic, had not asked why the children’s maternal grandmother was not allowed to be with the children.

The family had gone weeks with an aunt keeping the children with no other help. With the aunt working full-time, the strain on her and the children had been immense. In that one moment, Sandy was able to change the entire family’s lives for the better. She notified Child Protective Services and the judge in the case, and the error was immediately corrected. When Sandy called the family with the news that the grandmother could be with the children again, they broke down in tears.

“Now the grandmother could help raise the children, as she had since they were born,” she said. “Their lives were so much easier with two adults in the picture.”

The children’s grandmother and aunt are now raising them in a safe, loving home. The grandmother and aunt both work full time, but they trade shifts so one of them is always home with the children, providing the stability they’d lacked for their first decade of life.

An experienced volunteer advocate, Sandy has worked four cases over three years and says the role is a rewarding one for her.

“When I got these children back in their grandmother’s home, I knew I’d made a difference,” she said. “Their lives were certainly changed, but so was mine.”

*Children’s names have been changed to protect their identity

Tobias was lost in translation– From his birth, baby Tobias lived with his abuela. His drug-addicted parents lived in the home as well, but his grandmother was the caregiver who fed him, changed his diapers, sang him lullabies and rocked him to sleep.

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All that came to a sudden halt when his grandmother had to travel to Mexico to visit relatives, leaving his parents to care for him for one weekend. One weekend to parent. One weekend to feed, clothe and keep their child safe. One weekend to love their boy.

In that one weekend, they were referred to Child Protective Services after neglecting Tobias while using drugs. Tobias was removed from the home.

By the time his adored abuela returned from Mexico, Tobias had been transferred to a foster home. His grandmother did everything she could to get him back, but CPS would not approve his return until they could assure he would be safe in the home.

His abuela faced a choice – her beloved grandson or her drug-addicted child. She chose her grandson, but she faced legal challenges, language differences and cultural barriers on her journey to bring Tobias back to the only home he’d ever known.

That’s when Dallas CASA advocate Estela stepped in. Estela helped Tobias’ abuela understand legal documents written in a dialect of Spanish she did not know. Estela carefully explained the complicated legal terms and helped the grandmother understand why she could no longer allow her drug-addicted son to live in the home, even for one night. And Estela helped Tobias’ abuela understand requirements CPS was laying out for her to take custody of her grandson. Tobias’ grandmother went to work making her home ready, meeting CPS’ requirements and managing custody of her grandson.

Today, Tobias is back home with his grandmother, toddling now into the safe embrace of her arms.

And Estela is a changed advocate.

“His grandmother truly didn’t understand what needed to be done, and if I had not been there CPS would not have returned Tobias to the only home he’d ever known,” she said. “That would have been devastating to his grandmother and Tobias. She truly loved the boy, and he loved her.”

“I was able to make a difference in their lives. One person made a difference.”

Sophia needed special care – At only two weeks old, baby Sophia suffered a severe stroke due to an untreated illness, causing permanent brain damage and the need for lifelong medical care. But the worst was yet to come.

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Once home with her mother, Sophia did not receive the specialized medical care she needed. Her daycare center called Child Protective Services (CPS) when she was two and a half years old to report Sophia was dirty, covered in flea bites with her eyes matted shut and her ears draining infected fluid. She had untreated reflux, was much too small for her age and could not crawl or walk. Sophia’s mother, a young mother of five caught in a web of drugs and relationship problems, had missed key medical appointments, disregarded medical advice and left Sophia in an infant seat all day. At two and a half years old, Sophia was functioning on the level of a five month old. CPS intervened.

Sophia was placed in a therapeutic foster home and was assigned a CASA volunteer to advocate for her. In foster care, she received a feeding tube and began physical therapy under the watchful eye of her foster mother, a pediatric nurse. Her CASA advocate checked on her progress regularly and began gathering information that would help the child find a safe and permanent home.

Soon, Sophia began to gain weight and become more alert and aware of her surroundings. She started attending a school for specials needs children with adaptive programs and additional therapies. Soon, she was walking with a walker, something doctors were not sure was possible.

Sophia’s mother wanted her back, but she would not keep her in the special school, arrange for her special medical bed to be brought to her home or agree to counseling. She felt Sophia did not need special care.

Sophia’s CASA advocate went to bat for her, obtaining a detailed medical report from Sophia’s doctor about what care she would require for the rest of her life. Shortly afterward, Sophia’s mother relinquished her parental rights.

But Sophia’s story was not over. A teacher at Sophia’s special needs school had fallen in love with her sweet-natured student the first day she met her. She and her husband became licensed to be a foster parents so Sophia could come home with her.

They adopted Sophia shortly after, and the child continues to grow and thrive and learn in the loving and safe arms of her adoptive family.